I'll finish tomorrow. Busy day.

I kept a running draft analysis and have it ready to go. Should I post in this thread or will we have a discussion topic?

I'll finish with the 1999 Tony Phillips - $2,630,780 and the 1986 Lonnie Smith - $3.531,099

Good luck everyone

Posted by redcped on 1/20/2019 2:00:00 PM (view original):
I kept a running draft analysis and have it ready to go. Should I post in this thread or will we have a discussion topic?

Let's just use this thread.

ROUND 14
Owner________	Prev. Salary___	Player________	Salary_______	New Salary____
moses_k	46,922,500	53 Williams	4,734,676	51,657,176
barracuda3	49,208,697	00 Young	9,519,296	58,727,993
schwarze	56,705,874	99 Wickman	1,512,133	58,218,007
Chisock	56,807,148	29 Myatt	1,060,994	57,868,142
njbigwig	60,563,468	97 Phillips	2,747,333	63,310,801
mllama54	63,597,840	33 Myatt	847,194	64,445,034
NebHusker	64,328,522	65 Mazeroski	4,152,220	68,480,742
joerat1	66,106,439	82 Smith	5,130,962	71,237,401
calhoop	69,016,574	08 Ramirez	4,516,814	73,533,388
reddtrain	69,318,627	63 Mazeroski	4,202,816	73,521,443
redcped	71,661,275	12 Ramirez	4,866,383	76,527,658
pedrocerrano	72,034,960	99 Phillips	2,630,780	74,665,740
shysters3	79,202,724	69 Banks	4,284,901	83,487,625
slainte	83,506,435	20 Myatt	861,986	84,368,421
good_beef	84,047,702	15 Adams	6,216,746	90,264,448
cholatse	91,789,060	27 Myatt	1,448,487	93,237,547
.
ROUND 15
Owner________	Prev. Salary___	Player________	Salary_______	New Salary____
moses_k	51,657,176	87 Weyhing	13,536,512	65,193,688
Chisock	57,868,142	67 Banks	4,616,474	62,484,616
schwarze	58,218,007	11 Young	1,646,818	59,864,825
barracuda3	58,727,993	60 Williams	4,672,651	63,400,644
njbigwig	63,310,801	73 Alexander	3,508,510	66,819,311
mllama54	64,445,034	79 Carew	3,220,890	67,665,924
NebHusker	68,480,742	58 Williams	5,517,975	73,998,717
joerat1	71,237,401	28 Myatt	1,073,235	72,310,636
reddtrain	73,521,443	22 Adams	5,814,896	79,336,339
calhoop	73,533,388	67 Mazeroski	4,690,187	78,223,575
pedrocerrano	74,665,740	86 Smith	3,531,099	78,196,839
redcped	76,527,658	95 Wickman	2,022,388	78,550,046
shysters3	83,487,625	00 Powell	7,992,334	91,479,959
slainte	84,368,421	31 Kuhel	3,539,394	87,907,815
good_beef	90,264,448	74 Lolich	6,121,100	96,385,548
cholatse	93,237,547	06 Ramirez	5,100,273	98,337,820

Batters	Myatt	Kuhel	Carew	Mazeroski	Ramirez	Banks	Phillips	Smith	Williams
---------------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------
moses_k	30 Cle	38 ChW	74 Min	71 Pit	15 Pit	59 ChC	83 Oak	81 Phi	53 Bos
Chisock	29 Cle	36 Was	67 Min	59 Pit	15 Mil	67 ChC	97 ChW	87 KCR	51 Bos
schwarze	36 Det	32 Was	76 Min	70 Pit	03 ChC	70 ChC	94 Det	85 KCR	42 Bos
barracuda3	23 Cle	30 Was	73 Min	68 Pit	13 Mil	71 ChC	98 NYM	88 Atl	60 Bos
njbigwig	35 NYG	35 Was	80 Cal	56 Pit	03 Pit	57 ChC	97 Ana	80 Phi	40 Bos
mllama54	33 Cle	46 Was	79 Cal	57 Pit	98 Pit	66 ChC	82 Oak	92 Atl	39 Bos
NebHusker	31 Cle	45 Was	72 Min	65 Pit	07 ChC	56 ChC	98 Tor	93 Bal	58 Bos
joerat1	28 Cle	41 ChW	68 Min	62 Pit	99 Pit	65 ChC	92 Det	82 StL	47 Bos
reddtrain	34 Cle	44 Was	70 Min	63 Pit	09 ChC	63 ChC	93 Det	93 Pit	56 Bos
calhoop	24 Cle	42 ChW	83 Cal	67 Pit	08 ChC	60 ChC	88 Oak	83 StL	55 Bos
pedrocerrano	21 PhA	46 ChW	75 Min	69 Pit	00 Pit	54 ChC	99 Oak	86 KCR	48 Bos
redcped	25 Cle	39 ChW	69 Min	64 Pit	12 Mil	68 ChC	89 Oak	85 StL	57 Bos
shysters3	26 Cle	33 Was	84 Cal	58 Pit	05 ChC	69 ChC	85 Oak	91 Atl	46 Bos
slainte	20 PhA	31 Was	78 Min	72 Pit	01 Pit	55 ChC	91 Det	89 Atl	41 Bos
good_beef	35 Cle	43 ChW	77 Min	60 Pit	04 ChC	58 ChC	87 Oak	94 Bal	49 Bos
cholatse	27 Cle	34 Was	82 Cal	61 Pit	06 ChC	61 ChC	95 Cal	90 Atl	54 Bos
.
Pitchers	Young	Adams	Weyhing	Powell	Lolich	Alexander	Wickman
---------------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------	---------------
moses_k	11 Cle	26 Pit	87 PhA	03 StB	65 Det	71 LAD	92 NYY
Chisock	90 Cle	09 Pit	95 Phi	07 StB	68 Det	74 Bal	06 Atl
schwarze	11 Bos	21 Pit	00 StL	06 StB	67 Det	86 Atl	99 Mil
barracuda3	00 StL	12 Pit	98 Was	98 Cle	72 Det	79 Tex	07 Atl
njbigwig	99 StP	13 Pit	96 Lou	09 StB	63 Det	73 Bal	02 Cle
mllama54	01 Bos	11 Pit	94 Phi	97 Cle	76 NYM	82 NYY	07 Ari
NebHusker	07 Bos	10 Pit	99 Was	10 StB	75 Det	87 Det	05 Cle
joerat1	05 Bos	25 Pit	00 BkS	05 NYH	64 Det	76 NYY	94 NYY
reddtrain	10 Cle	22 Pit	89 PhA	01 StL	71 Det	83 Tor	96 NYY
calhoop	08 Bos	16 Pit	88 PhA	05 StB	66 Det	83 NYY	00 Cle
pedrocerrano	92 Cle	23 Pit	92 Phi	08 StB	78 SD	86 Tor	00 Mil
redcped	04 Bos	24 Pit	95 Pit	12 StB	69 Det	75 Bal	95 NYY
shysters3	02 Bos	20 Pit	93 Phi	00 StL	70 Det	84 Tor	01 Cle
slainte	09 Cle	14 Pit	95 Lou	99 StP	79 SD	76 Bal	97 Mil
good_beef	03 Bos	15 Pit	90 Brk	04 NYH	74 Det	87 Atl	04 Cle
cholatse	95 Cle	19 Pit	91 PhA	11 StB	73 Det	72 Bal	06 Cle

My draft thoughts (Drafted players in Blue, Teammates in Red)

Nomination - I seriously considered rostering the $18M version of Gus Weyhing, but was too concerned I'd get stuck with unusable expensive seasons of Powell and Lolich, so I went with a 1900 version knowing I'd have to burn 54 innings to be playoff eligible. His $607K salary got me the 5th pick overall in round 1.

Round 1 - Was hoping to roster the only cheap version of Lolich but slainte took him with the third pick. I grabbed 1906 Jack Powell (266 IP, 1.03 whip) because he also came with teammates Barney Pelty (284 IP, 0.95 whip) and Fred Glade (290IP, 1.03 whip) giving me 840 solid IPs after round 1. Wasn't 100% certain I'd need Glade or not.

Round 2 - I hate wasting salary on unusable pitchers so I bit the bullet and selected the best available season of this player, 1967 Micky Lolich (204 IP, 1.08 whip). He also gave me my starting catcher, Bill Freehan (618 PA, .282, .389, 447, B+/A/A).

Round 3 - Trying to figure out which hitters I would end up using as starters was tricky. I first pegged Aramis Ramirez 2007 season cause of his A/A fielding. I also considering going with an expense Ernie Banks SS season, but two went off the board before my next pick. I figured I could wait on Ramirez, so I grabbed Banks cheap season to save salary. 1970 Ernie Banks ($1.3M)

Round 4 - I realized that many of the good Babe Adams season were flying off the board, and I didn't want to get stuck with an unusable expensive season, so I jumped at the 1921 Babe Adams (170 IPs, 1.08 whip) and will use him as a reliever. He comes along with a reasonably priced OF, Max Carey (662 PA, 309, .395, 430, C-/A+).

Round 5 - I still haven't figured out how I am going to navigate Kuhel, Carew and Mazeroski (at 1B/2B). I will wait another round on that decision. I really needed a good hitter so I grabbed a stud Ted season, one where he wasn't a terrible fielder and one that had enough PA to play the entire season. 1942 Ted Williams (716 PA, .356, .499, .648, B+/C+). He also brought along a $6.5 million Johnny Pesky at SS, which I ended up not using.

Round 6 - I grabbed 1976 Rod Carew, the best season left (687 PA, .331, .395, .463, C/B) to play 1B. All his good 2B seasons were gone at this point. Because I grabbed usable Powell & Lolich seasons, I can afford to use teammates to fill C, 2B, 3B, SS and 1-2 OF spots.

Round 7 - Needed to save salary, so here comes 1970 Bill Mazeroski ($2.2M).

Round 8 - At this point, I need to start finding the rest of my offense. Charlie Gehringer (769 PA, .354, .431, 555, B-/B+) looks like a very good 2B option, so welcome to the team, 1936 Glenn Myatt.

Round 9 - Well, I waited a little too long on 07 Ramirez, and his other seasons, he is terrible on defense, so time to save some salary with 2003 Aramis Ramirez ($1.4M).

Round 10 - Most of the cheap Kuhel seasons have gone off the board, and I had nowhere to play him, and he brings along shortstop Joe Cronin (662 PA, .318, .393, .492, B/B), so going with a cheap 1932 Joe Kuhel ($2.4M).

Round 11 - Before this round, I still hadn't figured out if I was going with a full season Lonnie Smith (i.e., 82) or a full season Tony Phillips and I had no idea who my 3B was going to be. This pick solved both problems and saved some money by taking the cheapest Smith on the board left 1985 Lonnie Smith ($2.5M) and he brings along an awesome, albeit overpriced George Brett (665 PA, .335, .436, .585, A-/B+). He also brings along a solid Bret Saberhagen (236 IP, 1.06 whip).

Round 12 - For most of the draft, I had assumed I was going to take 1909 Cy Young + Addie Joss. But as the draft progressed and I had Fred Glade and now Saberhagen as options, I realized I didn't need Young & Joss. So my plan was to take the cheap Young. Then slainte grabbed 09 Young. Since only barracuda3 and I still needed Young, I gambled that he wasn't going to take his only cheap version. I was very happy to take my third OF, 1994 Tony Phillips (758 PA, .281, .409, .468, C+/B).

Round 13 - Needed to save salary. 1986 Doyle Alexander ($2.3M)… Key pick, the next cheapest Doyle was $1M more and would've change my oster significantly.

Round 14 - As expected, barracuda3 takes an expensive Cy Young. So I grab the cheapest Wickman... 1999 Bob Wickman ($1.5M). He also gives me the option to use Jeff Cirillo at 3B if Brett turns out to be too expensive.

Round 15 - 1911 Cy Young ($1.6M)

I actually only needed 8 teammates, and with only about $300K left, I grabbed a defensive replacement, 1906 Lou Nordyke (.365 obp, A+ range at 1B).

I didn't plan it this way, but I spent the lowest salary on drafted players, $59.9 million (average $77.0M).

Here are my team stats (excluding wasted salary guys).
Batting: 5537 PA, .323 avg, 420 obp, .513 obp
Pitching: 1450 IP, 1.03 whip, 0.29 hr/9 (Only using 6 pitchers)

My effective salary is $103 million which seems lower than most, but I am not using a sure-to-underperform Ernie Banks, a mostly-terrible-defender Aramis Ramirez, he's-ok-but-not-a-good-enough-hitter-to-play-1B Joe Kuhel or can't-get-on-base-guy Bill Mazeroski in my lineups. Those guys will never see the light of day (Kuhel might pinch hit). Sure, I could've used Mazeroski as a full-time 2B and upgrade elsewhere (making my effective salary greater), but I much prefer a strong 1-thru-8 lineup than two automatic outs at 8-9.

Initial pick:
1985 Lonnie Smith, $668,207
I didn’t realize quite how nasty some of the picks would end up being, so in retrospect this looks like something of a gift to my fellow owners. He’s got several cheap seasons, and though he was only rarely very good at least he isn’t going to kill anyone’s budget. I took his 115 PA partial 1985 season for 3 reasons: He’s got a solid OBP, he can run, and no one else can use his Cardinals teammates from that squad. His two cheaper seasons offered far less, and he’s costing me under 700K. But next time we do this league, I’ll probably be more ruthless with my pick.

Round 1:
1924 Babe Adams, $1,889,346 (2,557,553 total)
I wanted to stay low on the salary list for at least a couple rounds and get someone who would help my team here, not just be a salary swallow. Once the two cheap Weyhings were gone early, I considered the 08 Powell and a drop in the next round’s draft order. But Adams gives me a great reliever for under $2M, plus several teammate options, particularly defensively. There’s an A+ range guy at every infield spot (Grimm, Maranville, Wright, Traynor), plus Carey in the OF. Some great hitting pieces in Kiki Cuyler and platoon options Earl Smith and Eddie Moore There’s no place I can’t fill a hole out of this lineup, if need be, and everyone is under $6M.

Round 2:
1895 Gus Weyhing $5,026,946 (7,584,499)
This was just a way not to spend any more money on another lousy Weyhing. Cut my losses early and gain nothing but watch my effective payroll drop to $115M. But it could be worse. Even his best remaining seasons aren’t great and much more expensive. Bonus: Moved up to 3rd in next round. Bonus 2: Comes with a great hitting Jake Stenzel, if I can use him.

Round 3:
1904 Cy Young $12,445,335 (20,029,834)
At this point I’ve decided that I’ll be using most of my early picks on pitchers, because the bad seasons are just too bad to get stuck with. But that still means I’ve got to eat some innings. So someone is actually going to have to pitch and pitch well for me. Enter 400 innings of solid Cy. The 05 and 08 versions would have been preferable, but the $/IP is good and he doesn’t walk anyone (did you hear that, you other 15 Teds?).

Round 4
1912 Jack Powell $5,199,218 (25,229,052)
I’m still not thinking about any hitter seasons at this point, because there are still albatross pitchers to be dealt with and their costlier seasons are a bigger obstacle than the hitter seasons will be. The dilemma here is whether to try to acquire good teammate innings or grab someone who isn’t too expensive but will be a bigger waste of money later. The next-cheapest Powell remaining is $2M more and still not worth using. Plus this one comes with a great $2M Carl Weilman for the back of the bullpen. Could be worse. I’ve got two good relievers and one starter for 500 solid innings now ...and 500 lousy innings, too.

Round 5
1975 Doyle Alexander $3,100,405 (28,329,457)
At this point I know I need at least one more quality SP among the 9 teammates because there’s no one among the nominated players left who’s going to cut it. Only 3 Alexander seasons have been taken at this point, and the ‘75 (while not his best) brings with it a great 330-inning Jim Palmer teammate season that I really need. Now I can pair him with Young in the rotation and fill the SP3 with a Lolich season. Alexander can be a useful long man, and he also gives us another RP teammate in Dyar Miller.

Round 6
1969 Rod Carew $4,414,411 (32,743,868)
I’m finally ready to take a hitter, but figuring out how to build an infield out of this collection is really challenging. All the decent defensive Banks seasons at SS are gone, and the only decent 2B glove season for Carew is not a great hitting year. But if at least one of these guys isn’t playing those positions, I’ve got both at 1B along with Kuhel or out of position in the outfield. Williams is already a lousy fielder and I have pitchers who put the ball in play, so none of that is appealing. Also, none of my draftees so far have a great defensive SS who can hit at all as a teammate, so I need to find one. … Enter the compromise of ‘69 Carew, a C/C- fielder at 2B but a .332 hitter and under $4.5M. His teammate Leo Cardenas is a B/A+ shortstop with a tolerable bat. And I know I’ll have a Mazeroski coming to back up Carew for late-inning defense and fill in the missing PA (Carew only has 501) against LHP. I’ll likely end up platooning Kuhel and Banks at 1B despite better teammate options, and Ramirez likely will play 3B unless I can work in a Santo season as a Banks teammate.

Round 7
1969 Mickey Lolich $7,742,213 (40,486,081)
I was all set to take a hitter when I noticed there were only 3 tolerable Lolich seasons left and one option definitely better than the other two. Lolich has to be my 3rd starter behind Young and Palmer, so an ERC of 3 is at least usable. I suppose it’s possible I’ll end up with enough salary space to roster a better teammate here, but I didn’t want to chance it. I have 1300 IP now that are not Weyhing and Powell, my $10M mopup team.

Round 8
1925 Glenn Myatt $2,725,525 (43,211,606)
The real pick here is Tris Speaker and his .389/.479/.578 slash line plus A range. Myatt has a handful of good teammates worth adding, but it’s looking like I can afford Speaker’s $7.5M salary and can upgrade from ‘24 Max Carey. At this point it looks like I won’t actually end up using any of the ‘24 Pirates teammates. Stenzel, Speaker and Williams looks like a great-hitting OF. They’d better be, because there won’t be any stars in the infield.

Round 9
1957 Ted Williams $12,303,519 (55,515,125)
The big run on Teds happened quickly, so I had to jump in to get this impressive season that is fitting in my budget.

Round 10
1989 Tony Phillips $3,010,716 (58,525,841)
I don’t need Phillips to do anything but back up at a couple positions, as I definitely have many better OF options. Two of mine have under 600 PA, though, so I’ll need some ABs out of Smith to make sure he hits his RL total, and Phillips gets what’s left over. That’s not really worth $3M but I wasn’t going to spend much less than that regardless. This version gets me an excellent Dennis Eckersley and a few other very nice options for my bullpen. Todd Burns gets a spot for now.

Round 11
1939 Joe Kuhel $4,969,586 (63,495,427)
I know I need to platoon Kuhel and Banks at 1B because there’s no way I can afford a teammate who’s better no matter how cheap I go. So I might as well get a strong season from the LH Kuhel to play most of the time. ‘39 is probably his 2nd best season, with an OPS# around .800. He comes with a nice Ted Lyons season, but I cannot see any way to fit his salary unless I downgrade in the outfield.

Round 12
1968 Ernie Banks $4,226,265 (67,721,692)
I was going to wait a while on Banks, but I realized that the remaining choices are about the same offensively and two of them are a few hundred thousand cheaper than the rest. Best to jump in and get this HR-hitting, non-walking Banks to face Lolich basically. I’m starting to realize in the big picture that despite my best-laid plans I’m wasting salary all over the place. Alas. Almost done now and the team I’m targeting still works in the cap.

Round 13
1964 Bill Mazeroski $3,939,583 (71,661,275)
Cheapest one left on the board … and he isn’t even a superb fielder this season. My Carew only has 500 PA, so he’s the #8 hitter against LH (Lolich and ?). A Clemente season is a teammate option if I want to replace Stenzel and upgrade somewhere else, too.

Round 14
2012 Aramis Ramirez $4,866,383 (76,527,658)
Several good hitting seasons left here, though his range is poor on all of them. This is the most expensive of the remaining seasons, but I can fit it in with a slight downgrade of my 2nd catcher. At least he doesn’t make a lot of errors, and he’s got 50 doubles and 27 homers. My cleanup hitter! Also gives me the option of using Ryan Braun’s 40-30 season instead of Stenzel.

Round 15
1995 Bob Wickman $2,022,388 (78,550,046)
I actually had posted a Wickman pick about 3 rounds earlier, and then suddenly noticed I’d missed someone else taking the version I wanted a round before that. Oops! Quick delete. This meant I’d be getting another piece of dead weight, so I looked for a teammate option that would upgrade somewhere. Found it in John Wetteland, lately in the news for wholly different reasons, but he gives me 4 nice pieces in the back of the bullpen.

Final roster maneuvers
All I had to fit were a backup catcher and one bench player at this point. I stuck with my plan and didn’t replace anyone I had set for a while now. Speaker and Stenzel are staying in the OF, and Cardenas is still at SS. The rest of the lineup is draftees, with RH backups for Kuhel, Carew and Myatt for those games against LHP. Lolich remains as SP3 behind Young and Palmer, and between them my SP innings are set. Weilman, Adams, Eck and Wetteland fill the key bullpen roles. Gus, Powell and Doyle get the rest of the labor. It still bothers me that I didn’t end up using any of Adams’ ‘24 Pirates teammates, since that was part of my logic in drafting him in R1 and my defense isn’t very good at all.

In the end, this looks more like a $95-100M team with a lot of extra PA and IP. I think the rotation and key relievers will be competitive. The Speaker-Stenzel-Williams outfield all have great AVG and can slug, too. They’ll be at the top of the order with Carew, Ramirez and Kuhel to drive them in. Went with Shibe, a +2 singles park and 0 across the board, in part because my hitters collectively don’t emphasize 2B, 3B or HR more than any of the others, and I’ve got four very high AVG hitters in the lineup to benefit from more 1B. My pitchers can’t take too much extra advantage to the other side, though, and a couple of my key RP are homer-prone, so I avoided a + HR park.

In a league without WC, the division draw is huger than usual. I see a few owners spent way less on draftees and probably have more effective salary. Get stuck with a couple of them and I’m probably buried. Get lucky, and maybe this team can sneak through. I’m thinking 85 wins, though. It’s not wowing me, that’s for sure.

Initial Pick 1901 Cy Young (15.73Mil 443 IP 1.97 ERC#)
One thing I have learned playing these 16 x 16 leagues is that playing with cutthroats, the only way you are certain to have a good starter is to pick one initially. Having one with 443 IP was quite comforting.

Round 1 1894 Gus Weying ($5.86 Mil Wasted salary)

Spending so much on Cy, I needed to cut salary wherever. Weying will be on my bench but two of his teammates won't. My decision was which two to use. I went 3B Lave Cross (711 AB and .386 BA and .524 SLG) and OF Sam Thompson (605 AB and .407 BA and .686 SLG).

Round 2: 1911 Babe Adams ($10.07 Mil 303 IP 2.23 ERC#)

Since by rule I need to use all of Cy's 443 IP, I will pitch him every other game. That means I need two pitchers to alternate between game 2 and 4 in the rotation. The Babe will be my game two starter. He also brings along SS Honus Wagner(587 PA .384 BA and .507 SLG).

Round 3: 1976 Lolich ($4.42 Mil 193 IP 3.15 ERC#)

Lolich will be a long reliever. Not the best but I need to use someone because I am keeping 5 position players and only 4 P as teammates. Lolich brings along two other pitchers, Tom Seaver (8.49 Mil 271 IP and 2.37 ERC#) and Skip Lockwood (3.29 Mil, 95 IP and 1.92 ERC#). Seaver will be my game 4 starter while Lockwood will be my setup pitcher.

Round 4: 1897 Jack Powell ($7.16 Mil wasted salary)

This version was the least expensive by now but he does come with my starting LF, Jesse Burkett ( 7.58 Mil, 755 PA .383 BA and .468 OBP).

Round 5:1982 Tony Phillips (.486 Mil and 100 PA as a SS)
Saving salary and my backup shortstop)

Round 6: 1998 Aramis Ramierez (1.01 Mil and 275 scrub AB)

He will play about 100 at bats when I move Cross to 2B to backup Mazeroski. He does come with my starting C Jason Kendall ($5.53 Mil 627 PA and .327 BA and .411 OBP). His 627 PA will allow me to get a cheap Myatt later on.

Round 7: 1982 Doyle Alexander (.88 Mil wasted salary)

Saving salary but does come with my closer Rich Gossage ($3.62 Mill, 93 IP, 1.80 ERC#, and 30 Saves).

Round 8: 1939 Ted Williams ($6.88 Mil 727 PA .327 BA .436 OBP .609 SLG)

With the run on Ted in this round I was down to two choices over 700 PA. I went with the least expensive.

Round 9: 1946 Joe Kuhel ( $1.95 Mil 303 PA .264 BA)

Only action will be as a pinch hitter.

Round 10:1992 Lonnie Smith (.995 Mil 182 PA and .247 BA and .324 OBP)

Saving salary but I need to use him as my 4th and only other OF. 100 AB to platoon with Thompson since he has only 607 AB. He also provided my ninth teammate RP Mark Wohlers ($.98 Mil 35 IP and 2.50 ERC#)

Round 11:1966 Ernie Banks ($4.31 Mil 554 PA and .432 SLG)

He will platoon at 1B to face LHP.

Round 12: 1957 Bill Mazeroski ($3.82 Mil 598 PA and .283 BA and .318 OBP)

My starting 2B. He was the least expensive but also his highest BA available at the time. I picked him before Carew to make sure I had a decent 2B.

Round 13: 2007 Bob Wickman ($.975 Mil Wasted salary)

Round 14: 1933 Glen Myatt ($.85 Mil 101 PA .234 BA .372 OBP)

Will provide backup to Kendall at catcher.

Round 15: 1979 Rod Carew ($3.21 Mil 493 PA .318 BA .419 OBP)

My starting 1B platooning with Banks.

My starting line up:
Burkett LF 755 AB .383 BA .468 OBP
Thompson CF 605 AB .407 BA .458 OBP
Cross 3B 711 AB .386 BA .421 OBP
Williams RF 727 AB .327 BA .436 OBP
Carew 1B 483 AB .318 BA .419 OBP
Wagner SS 587 AB .334 BA .423 OBP
Kendall C 627 AB .327 BA .411 OBP
Mazeroski 2B 598 AB .283 BA .318 OBP

Smith OF 182 AB .247 BA .324 OBP
Banks 1B 554 AB .272 BA .315 OBP
Ramierez 3B 275 AB .235 BA .296 OBP
Phillips SS 100 AB .210 BA .326 OBP
Myatt C 101 AB .234 BA .372 OBP
Kuhel 1B 303 AB .264 BA .333 OBP

Young SP 443 IP 1.62 ERA .232 OAV
Adams SP 309 IP 2.33 ERA .237 OAV
Seaver SP 271 IP 2.59 ERA .213 OAV

Gossage RP 93 IP 2.23 ERA .196 OAV
Lockwood RP 95 IP 2.67 ERA .186 OAV
Wohlers RP 36 IP 2.55 ERA .235 OAV
Lolich RP 193 IP 3.22 ERA .252 OAV

Prologue:

This was my third time playing in a league such as this one. They say the third time is the charm. For me it was quite the opposite.

Initial selection: 1930 Joe Kuhel, $375K

I thought this was a stroke of genius. Saddle the majority of owners with a subpar offensive player (or a lot of wasted salary) at a primary offensive position, while getting a player who hits just enough to be an effective pinch hitter so as to reach the usage minimum without having to start him while having a low enough salary to guarantee an early first round pick that will enable me to avoid being stuck with a super albatross salary from someone like Weyhing. And Kuhel didn't have a whole lot of useful teammates either. I suppose all of that worked out except the last part; I didn't expect so many owners to be willing to use $200K guys as much as they'll have to, and I just missed out on using my first round pick the way I'd hoped.

1st Round - 1971 Ernie Banks, $275K

I wonder how differently this whole thing would've gone if schwarze had used the 1888 Weyhing. When the initial selections were announced it was clear to me that there were three optimal first round picks: the two cheap Weyhings and the cheap Lolich. Of course, those were the first three picks and I drafted fourth. My mantra in these types of leagues is always "it's not wasted salary if you use it" so my plan all along was to use seemingly unusable pitchers while building a dynamite offense to make up for it, but to avoid wasting a ton of salary on Weyhing I needed to grab one of his better versions that might be able to get someone out at some point. But I didn't want to take the best Weyhing because I didn't think his salary would enable me to have the type of offense I wanted, and I didn't think the other three decent ones would go very early in the draft, so I used my first pick on the only super cheap Banks, whose better versions probably won't play well in this league as a righthanded power hitter who doesn't get on base while facing a lot of righthanded deadballers. A borderline defensible selection, but I never felt good about it.

2nd Round - 1973 Rod Carew, $7.9M

Well that escalated quickly. Weyhing was always going to be the elephant in the room of this draft, and my Plan C for him was going to be to take the either the 1894 or 1895 Phillies version, which would waste around $5M but would at least yield a bunch of elite offensive teammates. But, extremely surprisingly to me, in the first round both of those versions were chosen, along with the good 1888 version. However, all three ~3.00 ERC# versions were still on the board, as well as other versions that wasted some salary but not as much as others. But heck, I now had the first pick in the round, and I didn't feel like dropping all the way to the middle, so I instead took what I considered to be the best second base Carew in the draft: one that can hit and also play defense a little. It's always nice to get the guy you want, but given that the second Carew chosen only went near the end of Round 3, this was a reach.

3rd Round - 1912 Babe Adams, $4.9M

The Weyhing situation continued to deteriorate in round 2, with the three cheapest remaining versions plus one of the three ~3.00 ERC# versions being taken. However, the biggest loss to me was the 1909 Babe Adams, whose teammate Honus Wagner I had targeted as the best offensive SS available in this draft, and whose 139 IP of 1.67 ERC# would make him a dynamite reliever and not provide too many innings, which was clearly destined to be an issue for me with my selections of Weyhing, Powell, Lolich and Young still forthcoming. This Adams should've been my second round selection, but I think what gave me pause was Wagner's low 630 PA total, meaning that I'd either have to bat him near the bottom of the order, waste a teammate slot on a backup SS, or play him at less than 100% for most of the season. But any of those scenarios would've been better than what ended up happening, which was my Adams selection here, which I made because it also came with a Wagner. But in hindsight, while this Wagner is preferable to me than any Banks that was available in the draft, he's not THAT much better, and I ended up wasting my first round pick, my third round pick, and a teammate slot just to get a Wagner who is only somewhat better than a Banks that I could've gotten in the 5th or 6th round. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

4th Round - 1998 Tony Phillips, $943K

In Round 3 another usable Weyhing was selected, leaving one on the board. Do I take him here? Of course not. Let's continue to whistle past the Weyhing graveyard and instead take a Tony Phillips who comes with two excellent offensive teammates, Piazza and Olerud, but also has many cheap versions later in the draft and almost certainly did not need to be taken here. It's almost like I was trying to lose.

5th round - 1898 Gus Weyhing, $7.1M

Wow, what a surprise, the last decent Weyhing went in Round 4. So let's assess the Weyhing situation. There are now four versions left, three of which will be drafted: a $7M complete waste, a $9M complete waste, a $10M complete waste, and a $13.5M that might seem like a complete waste, and probably is at 3.53 ERC#, but his OAV isn't THAT bad, his BB/9 isn't THAT bad, his HR/9 isn't THAT bad...this version was my Weyhing Plan D from the get-go. If all else failed, I'd try to get an unstoppable offense and use this guy. So here was my chance to do that. And instead I went with Plan E, which was not a very good plan, and certainly not a good value pick with the first pick in the 5th round. I think my fear at the time was that I knew I still had 700+ innings of Lolich and Powell coming, plus 100+ of Alexander, and there was only one cheap Cy Young left. If I took the expensive Weyhing and didn't get the cheap Young I'd end up with a ton of wasted innings anyway. So rather than risk wasting innings I decided to guarantee wasted innings, saving myself a potential $2M - $3M tops in the process. Whoop-dee-doo. At this point my team was completely doomed. From here on I think I executed my strategy fairly well, with only one slight misstep, but unfortunately that's pretty much a case of "other than that how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"

6th Round - 2007 Bob Wickman, $743K

So after five rounds my team had three good offensive players, no good pitchers, and had already wasted around $8M on Weyhing, Phillips and Banks. Awesome. Back when I thought my team would have an elite offense (in other words, before I decided for some bizarre reason to completely fail to execute that strategy) I had targeted the 1985 Brett as my third baseman. However, he comes with a $2.5M wasted Lonnie Smith, and is already overpriced as it is. Having just wasted $7M it was clear that I would no longer be able to afford that Brett/Smith combo, so I went with the 2007 Chipper Jones, who is almost as good, $2M cheaper, and is accessed via a teammate who is also a waste but almost $2M cheaper than Smith. While it hurt a bit to use such an early pick on a guy with so many cheap versions that would be available much later in the draft, this is the first pick I made in this draft that in hindsight wasn't moronic, especially since he also came with a nice Moylan RP season which I ended up using.

7th Round - 1923 Glenn Myatt, $1.4M

Another case of regretfully taking a guy with a lot of cheap seasons a bit early, but he hits just enough and has just the right number of PAs to platoon with the partial season Piazza, yielding no waste at the catcher position, and also comes along with the 1923 Tris Speaker who might be the best non-Williams offensive player in this draft. So I'd say, two non-moronic picks in a row. Ya know I'm like buttah, 'cause I'm on a roll.

8th Round - 1972 Mickey Lolich, $8.7M

Maybe I've learned my lesson by now. Assessing the Lolich situation, there were two possibly usable ones left, along with one not quite a good but cheaper version and four versions that were complete salary wastes. So I decided to take my medicine and take my preferred version among the ones still left, and lo and behold almost immediately afterward the other two palatable versions were taken. I done good, ma!

9th Round - 1988 Lonnie Smith, $595K

Salary protection, pure and simple. He's useless, his teammates are useless, but he was the cheapest one still available. After a few sub-$1M versions all of his other ones were over $2M, and I didn't want any of those.

10th Round - 1898 Jack Powell, $8.3M

This was a bit unfortunate. I had the second pick in the round. My starting lineup was complete except for whatever Ted Williams I'd end up with and one more outfielder. I was all set to take the 1899 Cy Young, who was the best Cy available and came with an excellent Burkett. Then with the first pick in the round moses_k took his Powell. This left only a couple of "usable" Powells and a couple of complete wastes, one of which would be drafted. Well, I couldn't afford to waste any more salary so I bit the bullet and took my Powell, who did not come with a good outfielder. And, of course, the best available Cy went with the very next pick, and no one else took a Powell the rest of the round. But given the potential risk I think this was a defensible move. It just didn't work out. It happens.

11th Round - 1979 Doyle Alexander, $2.6M

There's an episode of the wonderful animated Comedy Central show from the 1990's, Dr. Katz Professional Therapist, where one of the comedians is on Dr. Katz's couch and says something like "I went to Hawaii for the first time...I was surprised...I expected everyone to be wearing grass skirts and coconuts on their breasts...but it was only me..." I honestly expected most of the good Ted Williams versions to last until the end of the draft, because there are so many of them that I thought that everyone wouldn't have a preference as to which one they would get...but it was only me. So I figured I'd get a 400-500 PA version at the end of the draft and augmented it with Alexander's teammate Oscar Gamble here. Sure, it's not really a platoon because they both hit lefty, but neither is a 700 AB Williams. And there are a few really good RPs on this team; I didn't end up using any of them, but their existence on my potential roster gave me some nice flexibility for a while.

12th and 13th Rounds - 1968 Bill Mazeroski, $3.9M and 2013 Aramis Ramirez, $2.2M

I lump these two rounds together because here I caught a break by schwarze jumping ahead of me to make his pick in each of these rounds. At this point I still needed my Cy Young and I still needed a starting outfielder. I had two options: take the 1900 Young and his pretty good Burkett teammate, or take the slightly better 1898 Young and use Aramis Ramirez to get a good Brian Giles. The former was preferable, because the Ramirez versions that were Giles teammates were more expensive, and not as good, which mattered to me because my Chipper only has 600 PA so Ramirez will have to start 15 or so games. But if I took the Ramirez I wanted and didn't get the 1900 Cy Young I wouldn't have a starting outfielder (I mean, I would have, but he wouldn't have been as good). But if I took a Ramirez version with Giles I would've wasted money if I ended up with the 1900 Young anyway. It was a bit of a Catch 22. But since the only other person who didn't have his Young was schwarze, and I was scheduled to pick ahead of him in each round, once he skipped ahead of me I knew I didn't have to take my Young that round, and I was able to fill in my roster the way I wanted to, with my preferred Ramirez and a Mazeroski who will be a defensive replacement, gave me a nice Bob Moose for my bullpen, and can hit a tiny tiny bit.

14th Round - 1900 Cy Young, $9.5M

I got the Young I wanted and the backups I wanted; it's just the rest of my team that sucks.

15th Round - 1960 Ted Williams, $4.7M

Of the three Ted versions left at the end of the draft this was the one I wanted, in part because he's better defensively that the other two. Not usually the reason you choose a Ted Williams, but there you go.

Epilog (I know that's not how you spell it but that's the way they spelled it on The Streets of San Francisco and I always thought it looked cool)

I chose...poorly. I only somewhat executed my plan and I wasted far too much salary in the process. The first round didn't go as I'd hoped and everything just steamrolled from there. I did a lousy job of reading the room, never got into a rhythm, and ended up with a mediocre team. Lesson? I suppose it's "be flexible". When I didn't get a cheap Weyhing or Lolich in Round 1 I should've just bitten the bullet and taken a usable version of one of them and accepted the fact that I'd have to take a good Banks in the next few rounds. My team as a whole would've been much more better off.

barracuda, if this sim gig doesn't work out for you, there's a great future writing comedy. That was brilliant.

Posted by redcped on 1/21/2019 12:40:00 PM (view original):
barracuda, if this sim gig doesn't work out for you, there's a great future writing comedy. That was brilliant.

Thanks! I figure if at least one person enjoyed it then it was worth writing.

Agreed, very funny read barracuda.

I will post my summary fearing that Barracuda is a tough act to follow.

Initial Pick – Catcher 1935 Glen Myatt $200,000
I was out for the day with my brother in law and nephews. Went to see Sherlock Holmes, had dinner at steak house, and then introduced my nephews (ages 11 and 13) to the movie, Water Boy (Adam Sandler). The kids enjoyed the day, I return home to the horror that Schwarze kicked off Version 24 while I was out. As anticipated, I look and the SP slots have been claimed, I scramble for a catcher. Originally, I nominated Darrell Porter but then I looked at the pitchers and their salaries that are available to me and found Glen Myatt who had an outstanding season with 62 plate appearances and an enticing $200,000 salary – what a Godsend. At this point in the draft, I realized that I need to do my best Ray Guy impersonation that I can to punt the land mine seasons that some of the starting pitchers offer.

Round 1 – Pitcher 1896 Gus Weyhing $458K
To my surprise, Schwarze didn’t nominate the cheapest Weyhing so I took the 96 Weyhing for $458K no teammates but avoided this “stool pigeon” disguised as a pitcher. I even site mailed Schwarze asking why he took the second cheapest version and not the cheapest and he confirmed he wanted to reduce the team mate options available to us. Just sinister, as if Weyhing wasn’t bad enough. Delighted with the pick despite the reality of no team mates available here.

Round 2 – Pitcher 1909 Jack Powell $6.6M (ERC just under 3.00)
I feel like it is 4^th and 30, and I am Ray Guy out there hoping to deal with this Powell situation. After careful analysis, I decide I need to use his 1909 season for $6.6M with ONLY 259 innings that are just usable but avoid other much uglier options. Just a case of the lesser of the evils, instead of Ray Guy I feel more like Garo Yepremian - think Super Bowl VII. Even so, I am happy with this choice even though there are no team mates.

Round 3 – Pitcher 1963 Mickey Lolich $2.7M
My turn comes around again, and the Mickey Lolich issue is staring me in the face. I punt Lolich as a salary dump for $2.7M he too comes with no team mates. I find myself with four players, no team mates and $10M salary spent with only 259 of “usable” Powell innings. I can’t wait for my draft to begin! I am happy with the pick, considering the “housekeeping” is over.

Round 4 – Pitcher 1913 Babe Adams $11.4M (342 quality innings pitched)
I need everything and have removed three available starting pitchers from the player pool. I grab the 1913 Babe Adams for $11.4M and his 342 innings pitched. I am thrilled that he was still available because I need to get the IPs from somewhere, again no real team mate options here.

Round 5 – Outfielder 1940 Ted Williams $7.1M (651 quality plate appearances)
With his pick right before me, Schwarze selected the 1942 Williams at $12M. I need to grab some talent, yet I am still concerned about the $120M cap, so I grab the 1940 Ted Williams $7.1M who comes with a great catcher option with Jimmie Foxx $6.1M to complement my 62 plate appearances of Glen Myatt. I was hoping to trigger a Ted Williams run, but it proved to be premature, but I was happy to lock up Foxx here! (I officially have a team mate)

Round 6 – Shortstop/Third Baseman 1957 Ernie Banks $6.0M (710 plate appearances)
I need to address the infield situation with Kuhel, Carew, Mazeroski and Banks. Unfortunately, I was late after an Ernie Banks run, and had to settle for a good hitting / weak fielding shortstop or third baseman, A/D- rating at both positions. I have to use some of the nominated players. Not thrilled to select Banks here but the 1957 season was the last viable SS available plus Banks provides SS/3B flexibility if need be.

Round 7 – Second Baseman 1956 Bill Mazeroski $1.3M
I am a nervous wreck because I know that I want to dump Bill Mazeroski with this pick. PedroCerrano dumps his Maz with the 1969 selection for $1.3M, I am praying that the other cheap Maz makes it to me in ten more picks. To my surprise, he does, and I get to select the $1.3M 1956 Bill Mazeroski, just delighted.

Round 8 – Outfielder 1980 Lonnie Smith $2.6M (331 quality plate appearances)
I need team mates and the 1980 Lonnie Smith offers me half of a good outfielder in Smith, 3B Mike Schmidt, SP Steve Carlton, RP Tug McGraw, and RP Marty Bystrom. Just thrilled that I got this pick that filled some holes for me. (More team mates)

Round 9 – Pitcher 2002 Bob Wickman $533K
I punted on the 2002 Bob Wickman only $533K and he comes along with a good 1B option in Jim Thome. I love the Thome option but there are four owners who still need their Cy Young, I am gambling that I don’t get skunked on the best remaining Young that comes with a good OF in Jesse Burkett. This will be a long round. I second guessed myself almost immediately.

Round 10 – Pitcher 1899 Cy Young $11.0M (399 quality innings pitched)
Luckily the 1899 Cy Young and team mate Jesse Burkett are available. I grab the best remaining Young that I wanted and his 399 IPs for a bargain at $11.0M. Delighted with the pick the draft has been going surprisingly well, this all but assures me a last place finish if history is any indication. At this point, all I need a good 2B, half an outfielder, and a decent low inning relief pitcher.

Round 11 – First Baseman 1935 Joe Kuhel $3.9M
I grabbed the 1935 Joe Kuhel who was going to cost me over $3M anyway, but he comes with a good 2B in Buddy Myer that will fit nicely at the top of my order. Myer $7.9M was the best 2B option available to me at this point. Happy with this selection.

Round 12 – First Baseman 1980 Rod Carew $4.5M (620 quality plate appearances)
My only true half outfielder option available to me is Tony Phillips without wasting a team mate. His bat / glove combination just is awful, I decide to throw caution to the wind and draft a good bat in the 1980 Rod Carew who can bat leadoff but will probably kill me in the outfield. Best option at this point.

Round 13 – Third Baseman 2003 Aramis Ramirez $2.3M (possible pinch hitter)
So much for lucky #13 - looking to save salary. Looking to dump salary on Doyle Alexander, got skunked, first by Good Beef and then Schwarze – sticking me the last Alexander. I shift gears, looking for the cheapest Aramis Ramirez, Barracuda skunks me by selecting the 2013 Ramirez just before me, I take the 2003 Ramirez. Not happy getting skunked multiple times here however I realize that I have been very lucky at this point. My last team mate, a low inning relief pitcher, will now have less innings than I’d like.

Round 14 – Outfielder 1997 Tony Phillips $2.7M (possible pinch hitter)
I select the 97 Phillips for $2.7M, after Good Beef skunks me again late in round 13, causing me to go with an even cheaper RP with less innings than I wanted. Again, not complaining, during this draft I’ve been fortunate.

Round 15 – Pitcher 1973 Doyle Alexander $3.5M
1973 Doyle Alexander for $3.5M of waste.

My summary
Wasted $17.4M of salary. Poor fielding team with good power so I went with Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hoping that there aren’t too many dead ballers or stadiums like The Palace of the Fans in Version 24. Hoping to face some of the land mines pitchers - Weyhing, Powell, Lolich, etc. that others had to use in their line ups.
Hitters:
C: Glen Myatt 62 weak PAs and Jimmie Foxx with 651PAs
1B: Jim Thome 613 PAs and Rod Carew for 100 PAs or so.
2B: Buddy Myer
SS: Ernie Banks
3B: Mike Schmidt
OF: Ted Williams
OF: Jesse Burkett
OF: Lonnie Smith 331 PA’s and Rod Carew 400 PA’s (out of position)

Pitchers:
SP: Babe Adams 342 IPs
SP: Cy Young 399 IPs
SP: Steve Carlton 303 IPs
SP: Jack Powell 259 IPs
SU: Marty Bystrom 36 IPs
SU: Ricardo Rincon 56 IPs
CL: Tug McGraw 92 IPs
LG: Mickey Lolich & Doyle Alexander (Only as needed, same goes for my drinking)